Gym jargon translations

Gym newbies needn't feel overwhelmed by workout words. Here's all the lingo to have you talking like a pro

If you're a gym newbie, walking into a weights room filled with he-men pumping serious iron can be daunting enough... and that's before they've even started talking.

Suddenly you start nodding and smiling awkwardly, pretending to know what they're talking about as they drop acronyms and abbreviations that sound more like something you'd hear in a bank than in a fitness centre.

But with our little gym jargon dictionary here, you'll never need to feel baffled again. Here's the lingo you need to know:

Training techniques

Reps: Short for repetitions, which is basically the number of times you do an exercise before taking a rest. So if you were doing bicep curls with a barbell, each time you lift it to your chest and lower it would be one rep.

Sets: A cluster of repetitions. So you might do a set of 10 bicep curls, then take a rest, then do another set. Most gym bunnies would do between one and three sets of each exercise.

Supersets: Switching from one exercise to another with no rest in between. So you might go straight from bicep curls into tricep kickbacks. This is good because it means you're working solidly but using different muscle groups — so once your biceps are tired from the curls, you can move onto the tricep kickbacks because you didn't use the triceps much in the bicep curls.

Drop sets: You lower the weight you're lifting with each set as you fatigue — it helps you continue doing more reps. So you might do a set of bicep curls with 8kg dumbbells, then a set with 6kg, then a final set with 4kg.

Failure: The gym is one of the rare instances where failure is encouraged. If someone tells you to "train to failure" it basically means doing as many reps as you possibly can until your muscles cannot possibly take any more.

Circuit training: Doing a lot of reps of low-resistance activities with small rests in between. Circuits are often literally set up in a circle, where you move from exercise to exercise, usually with a mix of cardio and weights so you work through all the muscle groups. Many gyms already have a circuit area set up, or you can make one of your own.

Interval training: Arguably one of the best ways to get fit in a short period of time, this involves short bursts of movements (working at your max), then a rest. It's popular because it burns more calories in a shorter period of time, plus leads to dramatic improvements in fitness.

Isolation exercises: Exercises that just work on one muscle, such as an ab crunch (unlike planking, which would also work your back, arms and legs).

Compound movements: Exercises that use multiple parts of the body at one time — think squats (legs and core), burpees (arms, legs and core) or chin-ups (arms, core and back).

Calorie: A calorie is a unit of energy, so the number of calories in a food or drink refers to the amount of energy your body could get from eating or drinking it. We all need to consume calories to survive, but consuming too many means your body has too much energy and it will store them as fat.

DOMs: Short for "delayed onset muscle soreness", aka that heavy, aching feeling you get the days after a big workout that makes everything from getting out of bed or walking up or down stairs tricky.

Basal metabolic rate: A measurement of how many calories your body is burning when you're resting. It's a good way to calculate how many calories you can consume each day and it's worth noting that the more lean muscle you have, the more calories you will burn.

Gear

Free weights: Weights that aren't attached to cables or machines — think dumbbells and barbells. These are popular because they utilise multiple muscle groups, unlike machine weights that might be able to assist you to lift them.

Bosu ball: Basically a fitball cut in half with a solid platform on the bottom, that is ideal for core training due to the uneven surface. The name is an acronym from "both sides utilised", because of its versatility.

Kettlebells: A cast iron weight with a handle used for swinging movements to build strength and endurance.